


Learning to be Vulnerable

by orphan_account



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 18:59:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19179442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After the trip to Monte d'Or and all the stress and trauma that came with it, Hershel falls ill. Emmy and Luke are worried for him and make it their mission to make him feel better. Hershel would protest, as he doesn't often let others help him, but he is too ill and therefore, experiences being dependent on others.





	Learning to be Vulnerable

The night after the trio returned from Monte d’Or, Hershel was too exhausted to drive Luke back to Misthallery especially since he had already driven three hours back to London, including a ferry ride. Despite the break, neither of them had gotten much sleep. Emmy had felt slightly nauseous for the second half of the ride and Hershel's head had started to ache. Luke was too worried about both of them to sleep himself. 

Luke fell asleep in the car home after the ferry ride, despite his anxiety, so he was rested when they all got to Hershel's apartment. He helped the two adults with the luggage which they were grateful for.

"I appreciate your help, Luke," Hershel smiled. His headache was worsening but he tried not to let it show.

"Professor? Are you sure you're okay?" Luke asked timidly.

"Oh, I'm perfectly sure it's nothing major." Hershel brushed it off, as was common for him. "I'm sure once I take some medicine, I will be as right as rain."

"Okay." Luke didn't quite believe him. He knew the professor had been through a lot in Monte d’Or and was worried that it had taken a toll on his physical as well as mental health.

"The professor's right, you know." Emmy didn't believe her words but she couldn't stand to see Luke worrying so much. "Besides, you need to go to bed. It's almost 1 in the morning!"

"Oh, I'm not tired anymore! That nap did me a world of good!" Luke grinned, bouncing up and down to prove his point.

Emmy smirked. "You won't be saying that for much longer, Luke. Trust me."

"You'll see, Emmy! I'll stay up  _ all  _ night!"

He soon went back on his word when he trudged to bed at around 2 am, which was longer than Hershel had suspected.

He had woken up from the boy entering his own room which was next door to his. Emmy and Hershel were sharing a bed as Emmy persuaded him that the sofa wasn't a good idea. It might make his headache worse. At that, Hershel had to agree with her.

Hershel began to sigh as he tried to get more comfortable but it turned into a hacking cough. Emmy woke up with a  start and turned on the light. Hershel looked awful. He was paler than she'd seen him before and he really looked ill. 

"Professor? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Emmy," Hershel murmured while still coughing.

"I'll get you a drink and a cough sweet." Emmy completely ignored the professor's protests and got out of bed.

The gentleman lay there for a moment and closed his eyes. He didn't often fall ill like this but everything that took place in Monte D'or must have been too much for him.

Randall… He's really alive. It almost felt like a dream to him. After all the grieving he had done for him ever since that day, he almost couldn't believe it.

This should be a time for celebration but instead, he was laying here, sick. He wished Luke nor Emmy had noticed. Perhaps he could have dealt with it himself without people worrying over him when he didn't deserve such a thing. He hadn't been the one who had gone through eighteen years of manipulation and lies.

He wished he could call Randall but they hadn't had a proper farewell so he had no way to contact him other than letters. He supposed it was better than nothing.

Emmy opened the door with supplies. She had a cup of hot water with honey and lemon and more cough sweets just in case. She also had put down some paracetamol for his headache should he need it.

"Sorry, I probably went a bit overboard," Emmy laughed awkwardly as she handed the things over to him.

Hershel smiled, hardly believing the lengths she had gone to help him feel better. "Thank you very much, Emmy. Perhaps you didn't need to go to these lengths but I appreciate it all the same."

"It's no problem at all, Professor. I know you would do the same for me anyhow."

"Of course," he nodded.

He sipped the water and it was soothing to his throat. He hoped this would combat the cough. As for the tablets, he couldn't take one as of now but he might take one in the morning.

After a short rest, Hershel suddenly felt wide awake. Emmy was still quite groggy but she stayed up with him mostly talking about Randall until he heard her soft snores next to him.

He chuckled to himself, took another sip of his water and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

 

Dawn broke and the sun shone through the curtains but Hershel had been wide awake before then. He had barely got any sleep since his chat with Emmy. He had perhaps got half an hour of sleep before he woke up again, his head aching and his chest burning from all the coughing he had done. He finished his now cold lemon water. Frankly, it tasted appalling but he hoped it would do some good and he took a cough sweet. That helped a little. He had wanted to read but didn’t want to turn on the lamp and disturb his assistant so he lay, staring up at the ceiling for hours thinking of Randall and how much he missed him. 

He had wanted to talk to him before they left Monte d'Or but he had been too preoccupied reuniting with Angela and Henry that he didn’t want to intrude. Besides, why would he want to speak to him? All these thoughts made his head hurt so he tried not to think about it or anything else. But, knowing the professor, that proved to be difficult.

He was exhausted when the sun rose into the sky and Emmy stirred beside him.

“Morning, Professor.” Her voice was thick with sleep and she could barely open her eyes.

“Good morning, Emmy. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, did you?”

Hershel thought about lying but he didn’t have the energy to. “Not particularly, no. But I suppose I will be alright.” 

He rose to get out of bed but Emmy pushed him back. She knew that he would try and dress and go to Gressenheller. She wouldn’t let him.

“Professor, you need to stay in bed and rest, okay?”

“Emmy, I assure you I will be alright for today.” He didn’t want her to worry about him even more than she was already.

Emmy sighed. “Professor, don’t you dare. Please, just stay here and I’ll ring Dean Delmona and tell him you’re sick.”

“No, there is no need-”

Emmy put up her hand, clearly beginning to feel irritated. “You don’t get a say in this.  _ Please  _ just let Luke and me look after you for a change.”

He sighed. He couldn't argue with her. "Alright. I'll stay here. Could you tell Luke for me that I won't be able to drive him home? Perhaps you could let Brenda and Clark know that he is staying here."

"Sure thing!" Emmy smiled. "I'll go wake him."

Emmy quickly left the bedroom and knocked on Luke's bedroom door. It took a while getting any sense out of him. Neither of them were morning people. But he agreed to help make tea and breakfast and carried in a tray for the professor.

"Professor? Emmy and I made you breakfast!" The tray was heavy but he was able to lift it until he got to the bed.

"Thank you, my boy. That is very kind of you." Hershel took it from him and smiled as he looked upon the cup of tea and scrambled egg on toast. It looked delicious and it would hopefully distract from his pounding headache.

"It was no problem, Professor!"

He exited the room to leave Hershel to enjoy his breakfast and found Emmy reading the newspaper in the living room.

“Anything about Monte D’or?” He asked, sitting down next to her.

“No,” she mumbled, flicking through the last few pages to make sure. “But it’s only been a day. Maybe they haven’t caught up yet.”

Emmy put down the paper and noticed Luke looking up at her. “What is it, Luke?” She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

“How long will the professor be sick?”

Emmy sighed, smiling at him sadly. “Aw, you’re worried about him, aren’t you?”

Luke nodded quickly. He looked so crestfallen that Emmy almost cried.

“Hey, he’ll be okay! He always is!”

She ruffled his hat to try and cheer him up. He gave a small smile but nothing more. “But he’s never been ill like this before,” he said.

Emmy shrugged. She’d never seen him like this before either. “Well, maybe this adventure was a bit too much for him. He literally saw his best friend for the first time in eighteen years. And he thought he was dead!”

Luke thought for a moment. “That’s true.”

“See? I’m sure it will just take time. But for now, how about we go on an adventure of our own, eh?” She grinned.

Luke suddenly perked up. He liked the idea of that. “What do you mean, Emmy?”

“We’ll go get some things to make the professor better! Like more medicine, chocolate, ice cream, all that kind of stuff. It’ll be great!”

Luke laughed. “The professor doesn’t like ice cream. I think you’re thinking more about what  _ you  _ want.”

Emmy blushed and cleared her throat. “I guess I am. Sorry. But, uh, what else does he like? I can only think of tea and puzzles.”

“We can ask him what he likes?”

“No!” Emmy said this a bit too loudly and looked sharply to Hershel’s door in case he heard anything. Thankfully, his insomnia had caught up with him and he was fast asleep. “I want it to be a surprise.”

“Okay,” Luke murmured, his hand resting on his chin. “Well, I know he doesn’t like sweet things. We could find dark chocolate though.”

“Let’s wing it.” She was tired of sitting here. She wanted to go out and get these things so the professor can get better.

“Right you are!”

* * *

 

Luke’s and Emmy’s adventure was short but Luke appreciated it all the same. He missed the professor a lot but he liked spending time just with Emmy too.

Luke picked out a jigsaw that he thought the professor would like. It was of a lake scene with ducks and fish and other wildlife.

"Very pretty, Luke. I'm sure Hershel will enjoy solving that."

Luke blushed, happy that he had picked something good. "Thanks, Emmy. What did you get him?"

Emmy had just been to a different shop to buy medicine and a present for him. "Tea bags, obviously. I know he likes Earl Grey but I got him loads of different ones just so he can try them."

"Good idea," Luke grinned. "I wonder if he'll let me try some too."

"I don't see why not!"

Luke paid for his jigsaw and they both made their way back to Hershel's house.

They saw Hershel in the living room, sipping some tea. He looked calm on the surface but upon noticing that Emmy and Luke had left, he had become worried.

"Oh, there you are. I was wondering when you would return."

"Professor? What are you doing out of bed?"

It had taken a lot of strength for Hershel to leave his bed to get more water so he had sat down on the sofa and hadn't moved for at least an hour. He let Emmy lift him up and take him back to his bed.

He would have protested if his health had not been so poor.

"We have some things for you," Luke began, taking the gifts out of the plastic bag. "Emmy got you more medicine which isn't very exciting, I suppose."

Hershel was grateful for it all the same. He smiled at her. "Thank you, Emmy. This will help a great deal."

She smiled back and took out her selection of teas. "These are for you too. I know how you like your tea!"

Hershel chuckled as a pile of small boxes began to form on his lap. There were six of them in total, each with 20 tea bags in. "Goodness me. There is quite a lot here. I'm not sure how I'll manage all these myself."

Emmy blushed. "Sorry, I guess I got a bit carried away."

"Don't apologise, Emmy. I appreciate the thought, truly. But perhaps you could help me with drinking this."

"Of course!" Luke and Emmy said in unison and the three laughed.

"Oh wait!" Luke took the last item out. "I bought a jigsaw for you, Professor! I know you've finished all your other ones and now that you have some free time, you could do this one.

Hershel smiled as he looked at the photo. "It is quite beautiful. I'm sure I will enjoy solving this puzzle. Thank you, Luke."

"No problem, Professor!"

The professor was quite overwhelmed at how the two of them had bought gifts for him just because he had fallen ill. It reminded him that people did care for him, even at times when he is dependent and possibly a hindrance.

"Luke? Could you possibly make us all a cup of tea, using these lovely tea bags that Emmy bought?"

"Sure thing!"

He ran off with a grin on his face and Emmy laughed.

"I think he likes tea even more than you, Professor!"

Hershel laughed too. "Perhaps. I like to think that he has taken his tea-loving nature from me. Or perhaps Clark. He enjoyed tea while we were at university together.”

“So you had tea parties, I take it?” Emmy sniggered at the thought of it.

“You could call it that, yes.”

Luke came in soon after with a tray with three teacups in it. “Here you go!”

Hershel chose his usual teacup and took a sip. He wasn’t expecting a fruity taste but he enjoyed it all the same and he hoped it would help his throat. “This is lovely, Emmy. Thank you for getting these.”

“It’s no problem!” Emmy took a sip of her own tea. She made a face and put it back down. “Sorry. It’s too fruity for me.”

“Oh, I quite like that one. I suppose we have different tastes.”

“By all means, you can drink mine too. I’ll go make another.”

Hershel felt quite spoiled, being taken care of like this. He wasn’t used to it at all. But he knew that Luke and Emmy did truly care for him so there was no need for him to refuse their services. He would definitely make up for it another time anyway.  He smiled at Luke who seemed to be savouring his own cup of tea. He was grateful for both of them. He couldn’t have dreamed of better people to have in his life. He hadn’t believed it was possible to have friends again after what happened to Randall. But it seemed that everything had worked out for the best.


End file.
